The Second Golden Age of Dutch Art

Sixty 19th century Dutch paintings from the collection of Bay Area residents Dr. Jan and Mary Ann Beekhuis go on display this weekend in “The Second Golden Age of Dutch Art” at St. Mary’s College of California’s Hearst Art Gallery.

The exhibit, which represents a fraction of the Beekhuis’ collection, is divided into three main groups: The Dutch Romantic School, The Hague School and the Dutch Impressionist School. Pastoral landscapes, seascapes and moodily-lit interiors form the bulk of the Romantic School. The Hague School’s loosely painted still lifes and landscapes point towards the crisp hues and bold brushstrokes of the Impressionist School.

Thumbing through the catalogue, I see echoes of Rembrandt Van Rijn in Jozef Israel’s contemplative “Grace Before a Meal.” There’s traces of Franz Hals in the ribbons and fabric adorning the young woman in Johannes Hendrik Veldhuijzen’s “Portrait of Meta Meese, Bride.” And Petrus van der Velden’s “Workers in the Fields with Tulips” is the sort of heroic “salt of the earth” painting Vincent Van Gogh’s idol, the French painter Jean Francois Millet, might have created.

A lecture with Dr. Jan and Mary Ann Beekhuis and curator Thea Grigsby will be held at 2 p.m. Oct. 12 followed by a ribbon-cutting and reception with the Consul of the Netherlands Douglass Engmann and Hon. Vice-Consul Johan P. Snapper at 3 p.m. Admission is $5.

The exhibit is open 11 a.m.-4:30 p.m Wednesdays-Sundays through Dec. 14. Admission is $3, free for children under 12 and group tours. Visit www.hearstartgallery.org.

Jennifer Modenessi

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